Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992 TAG: 9203250357
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It can now be reported, on reliable authority, that Clarence has been sent to help George Bush. How else to explain the second chance Bush has been given to resurrect his moribund presidency and leave a legacy of which he can be proud?
Last year, Bush's approval ratings were in the stratosphere. Now they are in the toilet because the president squandered an opportunity following the Persian Gulf War to seize the moment and reshape Congress and the political landscape. Now, thanks to the House of Representatives for shooting itself in the foot in the check-kiting scandal, the president has a chance to become St. George, the congressional dragon slayer and reformer, who wants to clean up Congress and restore the American people's faith in public service.
The president's role model for this should be Harry Truman in the election of 1948.
Then, as now, voters were upset by high taxes, a rising cost of living and revelations of corruption in Washington. Republicans had won control of Congress in 1946 with the slogan "Had enough?" Two years later Truman had had enough, and he determined not only to win the election but to get back the Democrat majority.
Truman called the Republican Congress a "do-nothing Congress," a widely quoted slogan. He decided to take on Congress, portraying the institution as the enemy of the American people. In his tough acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Truman announced that on July 26 he would call Congress back into session to pass legislation he believed was good for the country. When Congress did nothing, Truman applied the "do-nothing" label and it stuck. He then began a grueling campaign from Labor Day to Election Day, covering nearly 22,000 miles and delivering 275 speeches.
Truman treated Congress with scorn and ridicule. He did what Bush ought to do. He wrote out a 10-point program "for the welfare and benefit of this country." Then he campaigned for his program against the "do-nothing Congress," which failed to pass it.
President Bush should begin his cleanup campaign with the stated goal of restoring confidence in public institutions and pledging to lead reform. He should then ask the American people to give him a Republican majority in the House and Senate; say that if they don't achieve his stated goals of restored public confidence and integrity within a brief period of time, the people should elect a Democrat president in 1996 and a Democratic majority to Congress. That might get some attention and inspire the voters, who would know what they were voting for and have a specific agenda by which they could hold those making the promises accountable.
The 1948 Democratic convention followed the Republican convention. This summer, the Republican convention follows the Democratic. In his scathing acceptance speech, Truman dissected the Republican platform point by point, saying that he had proposed the goals the Republicans claimed to want to achieve. He then said he would call Congress back and hold them accountable to their own platform, but with his methods for achieving these goals.
This is precisely what President Bush should do. Why not take a page from "give 'em hell, Harry" and prod Congress into action while it's down? Bush has been given an opportunity few presidents ever get: a second winning issue.
Will he muster the courage to do it? Will he go against his "nice guy" nature and seek to rehabilitate Congress and, in the process, politics for the foreseeable future?
Clarence hopes so. While he has his wings from the previous visit, I understand he's been told that transforming President Bush would earn him a halo. Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB